THE case of Schapelle Corby has been a polarising event, not unlike Lindy Chamberlain, where everyone in Australia has an opinion on whether she is guilty or not, writes DAVID PENBERTHY.

Corby's release from jail in Bali will reignite the debate, especially with the prospect that she may sell her story to the highest bidder, with Australia powerless to recoup the payment under proceeds of crime legislation due to Jakarta's veto on cooperating with Canberra in protest at the spying scandal.

Long time ... Shapelle Corby has been imprisoned since 2005.Source: News Limited

I am a long way from being a Corby supporter.

It puzzles me that anyone would sign on as a supporter of her at all, when there are only a handful of people who could know the truth about what happened, and a mountain of circumstantial evidence suggesting that it was all pretty suss anyway.

That said, I am happy for her that she is on the cusp of freedom.

Cannabis is not in the same league as heroin, and nine years in jail is a hell of a long time, even if she was sentenced to an original 20 and could have even paid with her life under Indonesia's harsh anti-drug laws.

There are two old sayings which cloud my views of Corby in the negative. The apple doesn't fall from far from the tree, and you can tell a lot about people by their friends.

It is a matter of public record that members of Schapelle Corby's family have a criminal history of involvement with drugs, even though they bitterly denied this from the outset upon Corby's arrest.

Her late father was arrested twice for cannabis use and possession in the 1970s - so what, really, a lot of people were - but he was also implicated in a much more serious and recent drug operation.

Convicted Australian drug trafficketer Shapelle Leigh Corby walks with her cell-mate in Kerobokan Jail in Bali after visiting time on 24/03/2010. Source: News Limited

Mick Corby was named in a Queensland police report as part of a Gold Coast drug syndicate that was smuggling cannabis into Indonesia on passenger flights.

His best friend and next door neighbour was running a massive cannabis operation on his Gold Coast property.

When it was raided police seized 200 plants and vacuum-packed bags of dope ready to be smuggled to Indonesia in travel bags, with a total value of $600,000.

The particularly interesting point is that the Queensland police report was prepared just three weeks before Schapelle Corby was arrested.

You can't pick your relatives, I suppose. And as I suggested at the start, this type of evidence could be described as circumstantial.

But if you are trying to shake the stoner tag, it probably wasn't helpful for Corby's former lawyer to pop her head up on the Today show this week, and declare that the first thing Schapelle would do upon getting out of Kerobokan Prison was to roll herself a really big joint.

It was a moment which, to borrow a phrase from politics, could be described as "off-message".

Whether Corby is guilty is a rollicking topic for barbecue conversation, but it doesn't really matter overall in the scheme of things.

The thing which matters to me, and which if they had any sense would be abandoned forthwith, is the Corby camp's obsession with the Australian Federal Police in this episode.

Schapelle Corby breaks down when the Bali court sentenced her to life in prison. She now has a chance to walk free on parole.Source: adelaidenow

Schapelle's sister Mercedes has had a running battle in the courts to access all information and correspondence collected by the AFP about her sister's arrest.

The AFP has resisted moves to divulge that information, arguing correctly that it could jeopardise the ability of the federal police to monitor and catch other drug dealers, by exposing their methods.

There's a dangerous conceit at the centre of the Corbys' war against the AFP. It is framed around a pretty fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the cops. A spectacularly stupid misunderstanding.

It is not the job of our police to help people who are caught with drugs.

It's their job to make sure they are caught.If you type the words Schapelle and AFP - and also Schapelle and AFP and Keelty, in reference to former AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty - you will be directed to several conspiracy theory sites suggesting that the AFP hung Corby out to dry and was involved in some vast conspiracy involving former members of the Howard Government to frame her for somebody else's crime.

It is space cadet stuff.

It has parallels with the case of the Bali Nine, who have accused the Government of not doing enough to help them, and attacked the AFP for somehow handing them over to Indonesia.

The AFP received a tip-off from the father of Bali Nine drug mule Scott Rush that his son was involved in drugs. The accusation goes that the AFP should have sat back and waited for the heroin they were smuggling to land in Australia, and spared them the prospect of the death penalty. It is a shockingly naive view.

It is the job of police, be they Indonesian or Australia, to strike while they can and effect an arrest.

The Indonesians got the Bali Nine red-handed. If our cops had done nothing it would not only have been a total breach of faith with the Indonesian police, it would also have been tactically risky - as you can never guarantee that all nine of the smugglers would have been caught at the other end.

Be it cannabis or heroin, be it Schapelle or the Bali Nine, the key point is this.

There are massive bright yellow signs in every Indonesian airport which feature a large black image of a gun, with words written in English saying INDONESIA EXECUTES DRUG DEALERS.

That's a fairly pithy and succinct warning, if you've got half a brain and the reading age of a 10-year-old.

I would wish Schapelle well on her release. I wouldn't even begrudge her a spliff.

But spare us the conspiracy theories. There's too much murky stuff in this family tree to sustain a sob story, and absolutely no point blaming the cops for doing their job.

Comments on this story

Krista Posted at 8:22 PM March 16, 2015

Wow her dad was into drugs that must mean she's guilty! :-p

Henry Wilson of Adelaide Posted at 2:15 PM May 20, 2014

@ At Shun Hatton Corby's uncle. There was 200 plants not seedlings and 3.5kg of compressed dope seized and theres pics to prove it so stop lieing. Old Michael WAS in the written police report Kim Moore later confirmed this was Mick corby again another lie from you. The defamation case has not been sued successfully apart from the copyright photos not being allowed another lie from you. Why show up and spread misinformation? oh yeah your her uncle.

H.R.Pufnstuf of Tasmania Posted at 8:44 AM February 17, 2014

Please Shappelle take yourself, Wayan, your obnoxious sister Mercedes and the rest of your dodgy looking family and do the bolt once and for all.